Prop 4

Wasn't sure what to do next so I looked back on the few photos I chose and I started looking at the sword.

I remember I really liked the pattern on the sword but I can't really see it in this photograph.

I put it into Photoshop and tried to draw over it as best I could. This is what I could get.

I'm not sure if this is exactly right but it's the best I could get, I'm going to neaten it up and change the end of it and put the pattern on my cup.

I got the shape the way I wanted by using the distort tool, emboss filter and two layers, the first with a pin light layer effect but it wasn't dark enough so the second is a multiply.

I'm pleased with the design of the cup, it's simple and the pattern is pretty. The next part is designing the matching teapot. The process is gonna be almost the same so I'm hoping it won't take to long to do.

This is the outline.

I followed the same process as my cup, added the colour, basic shadow, the wood and the pattern with the layer effects.

The bottom pattern  is fine but I don't like the top one, I don't think I placed it right so I'm gonna try it somewhere else.

Not sure which one I prefer but I don't have to decide right now, I'll take a break from it and when I come back I'll decide then.

Axe Handle Tutorial

I had some issues with saving my work and after speaking with Leavon he said it was ok to use a friends axe head to continue with the tutorials.

This axe head belongs to Adam Hannush.

I followed the second tutorial and this is the axe handle that I created.

I still have some trouble with the remesh function so I had to ask the tutor for help but the rest of this was tutorial reasonably easy to follow. 

I did the remesh thing again at the end so it was all one mesh, it turned out alright but no matter what I did I got some weird parts on the top and bottom parts of the axe head.

I'm still having some issues with my work saving but I seem to be getting round that slightly by saving it on a different file every few minutes.

Prop 3

After deciding on the shape of the teapot and cup last time, I wanted to finish the design of the cup first. The first thing I have done today is to get the drawing into Photoshop and finalise the shape of it.
I made some guidelines to help me keep both sides lined up with each other.

Next I have added a block colour and some shading.

I'm not sure if this is the colour I want to go with, before I carry on I think I'll go back into Photoshop and play around with some other colours.

These are five different colour variations that I have done.

The green still looks good but I think the blue one looks better, the red, purple and yellow ones do not look good.

So this is the one I will continue with.

I don't want it to be a flat colour, it needs some sort of texture on it. I haven't decided what I want it to be made out of yet and I think my next step is to find some texture images and play around with layer effects.

Texture from: http://dlennis.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/old-clay-pot%E2%80%94texture/

I used this clay texture with a multiply layer effect and it made it look like this:

I don't really like it all that much, it doesn't give much texture detail to the cup.

Texture from: http://hhh316.deviantart.com/art/Seamless-clay-texture-183147699

This is a different clay texture, this was used as an overlay layer.

I do quite like this one, it looks like a painted effect rather than cracked pot like I was expecting, I may end up using this one.

Texture from: http://texturelib.com/texture/?path=/Textures/plaster/bare/plaster_bare_0081

The last clay texture I used for these tests, it was used as a soft light layer effect.

I don't think it looks as good as the one above but looks half decent. I won't be going any further with this one.

Texture from: http://hhh316.deviantart.com/art/Seamless-marble-texture-163763954

I thought marble might be an interesting texture to check out so I found a couple of those as well.

I do like the way this looks but still not my favourite.

Texture from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zooboing/3682832089/

This is the second marble texture I found interesting.

I didn't tile the texture very well for this one, you can see where the edges of the texture image are. I'm not going to correct it because I don't like the texture. This is a colour dodge layer effect.

Texture from: http://wolfanfics.dreamwidth.org/91447.html

I did make this one into a tile-able texture but the shadows on it are to noticeable. I don't like the dots in it either. This is a soft light layer effect.

This is the last texture I tried.

Texture from: http://www.wallstickeroutlet.com/wall-decor-detail.php?RecordID=73014

I think this one is the best one, it took a little time to get the wood grain going in the direction I wanted with the distort transformation. I used two layer effects on this one, soft light and overlay. I need to sort out the shadows on it properly and get a little more decoration onto it.

Environment

These are my four favourite photographs that I took for the perspective task.

From looking at the photos my favourite one to continue with is the top one. It kind of reminds me of an old train station tunnel. Before I decide properly I'm going to some very quick sketches of the basic shapes of the building. I think it will help me decide which has the most interesting shape and might give me some better ideas without everything else, like cranes, people and cars, crowding the image.

These are my four, very rough drawings of the photos above.

After looking at these as well as the photos I think the third one down is my favourite. I could turn it into a rough top cafe, the shed could be the kitchen and where those pyramid windows are, there could be tables instead. 

This is just the initial idea that I have but my next step is to get it into Photoshop and draw it out a lot more neatly than I have.

Now that I have drawn it up in Photoshop more neatly I know that I want to continue with this one. I took out the other two pyramid windows because you couldn't really see them and I think I' going to end up taking the other two out as well.

What I want to do next is to just finalise some of the shapes in here, like the walls need to have top parts added to them.

Not much has changed, only the walls have a little more depth to them.

I'm not sure what I want to do next so I think I'll look at some outdoor cafe's and see what ideas that brings.

All of these cafe's have some sort of greenery either in or around them. Half of these cafe's have some sort of shelter from the weather, an umbrella or gazebo. 

Maybe before I decide which accessories to add I should first plan where the kitchen area is going to be and where I want tables and chairs.

This is what I have so far, I changed the shape of the wooden shed to make it more interesting and gave it a door and window. Also, this is where I thought the tables might go but I will probably end up changing the shape of them.

Organic and Machine 6

After my last post I have sorted out the windshield, done some highlights/shadows, changed the back wheel a little and added colour to the image.

I wanted to design my own tire tread for the bike, so the first thing I did was look at some that already exist.

I like the ones that have both straight and curvy lines so my design for the tire tread has both.

It's a simple enough design to easily add into my drawing but I think it looks quite interesting as well.

After speaking with the tutor in class, she suggested I change some things about my work before I continue with it. The pipes going into his cheek should be changed so they go under the jaw line, his arm on the left side looks odd so I need to correct that and the bike is way to small for him. I have spent the last few hours correcting two of these, mainly the bike, and have added the tire tread and sorted out some more shadows.

I do think the bike looks a lot better now and I asked a couple of different people if they thought it was in proportion before I continued. I still need to correct his arm but I will do that next time, I also need to sort the metal bits on the wheels and give him some clothing.

Prop 2

Unfortunately my graphics tab decided to break on me a couple of hours ago so I decided to do the rough sketches of the tea set by hand instead of on Photoshop.

These are my initial sketches:

These are sketches of tea pot and cup shapes that I like, the tea pot shape I like the best is the top right one so I'll do another rough sketch but define the shape a little better.

The handle fits in with the shape of the pot better and I've made where the lid sits a little longer. The only thing I don't like is the spout but I can work on that a little more if I decide to do this.

I need a cup that matches this a little and there is one in my drawings above that could work but I think I'll draw that one a little neater as well.

The shape of this cup works quite well with the tea pot I think but maybe the top of it is a little too narrow, again this is something I can fix if I decide to go forward with this.

This is the last little sketch I did and it just shows the layout I thought my tea set could be presented in on a tray or something.

Prop

For this task we have been asked to design a prop and build using ZBrush. The trip to the Leeds Royal Armoury was to gather reference material to help give us some ideas and to influence our design.

As you can see from a previous post I took lots of photographs from this trip and the ones I really like are these ones:

I know I definitely want to do something with at least one of these but I'm still not sure what, I want to do something Chinese or Japanese because I really like designing that kind of stuff.

I've been to the Royal Armoury before and took loads of photographs then as well, I think I'll look through those photos and see if there is anything there that will give me a more solid idea.

I found a couple of photographs of a Japanese tea set which I took from my previous trip.

I think I like the idea of designing my own tea set for my prop but not too sure yet, may I'll just try sketching some rough ideas in Photoshop and see if anything sparks.